Changes in attitude — Vandals come back with strong third quarter to beat Cal Poly

MOSCOW — Again, bounceback wins aren’t always pretty. 

The Idaho Vandals fell behind early, dominated the middle of the game, then had to hold on late to beat the Cal Poly Mustangs 34-29 in Big Sky Conference football Saturday afternoon before 8,873 at the Kibbie Dome. 

“Good to find a way to win,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “I didn’t like how we played in the first half. Credit to Cal Poly, coach (Paul) Wulff had their guys ready to go better than I did in the first half. They were playing harder, and with more want-to and fire. But after we had some good conversations at halftime, I really like the way we responded.” 

Late in the first half, with the Vandals (5-3, 2-2 Big Sky) trailing 14-6 and with the ball on their own 15, Eck, knowing Idaho would get the ball first in the third quarter, opted to run out the clock instead of trying to push the ball downfield. 

The Vandals scored on their first three drives in the second half, and on four of their first five, and built a 34-16 lead before Cal Poly (2-5, 1-3) notched a late touchdown and a scoop-and-score to make things interesting. 

Redshirt freshman Jack Wagner, the only healthy one of Idaho’s top three quarterbacks, threw for a season-high 347 yards and three touchdowns. 

He opened the second half with completions of 29 yards to Mark Hamper and 45 to Jordan Dwyer, and the drive culminated with an 8-yard toss to tight end Mike Martinez. Backup quarterback Rocco Koch, a true freshman, ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14. 

On the next drive, Wagner hit Hamper for 39 yards to the Cal Poly 4, and a facemask penalty moved it to the 2. Koch came in and ran it in on the next play.  

But Cameron Pope’s PAT was blocked, and Cal Poly’s Brian Dukes ran it back 80 yards for two points. Instead of a 21-14 Idaho lead, it was 20-16 Vandals. 

On the next drive, Wagner hit Alex Moore for 33 yards and Hamper for 22, then connected with Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar on a 21-yard pass and run for a score and a 27-16 advantage. 

Early in the fourth quarter, Dwyer beat the cornerback down the left sideline and caught a 21-yard TD pass from Wagner to make it 34-16 with 6:11 left. 

That touchdown drive was set up when Idaho’s Keyshawn James-Newby slammed into Cal Poly quarterback Bo Kelly as he tried to pass. The ball fluttered up in the air and linebacker Isiah King intercepted at the Mustang 46. 

After having just one catch for five yards in the first half, Dwyer finished with seven receptions for 87 yards. Hamper had four catches for 103 yards, all in the second half. 

“A lot of stuff was there in the first half; we just had to calm down and execute our brand of football,” Dwyer said.  

“I thought Wags did some better things,” Eck said. “That was his most accurate game throwing. Jordan Dwyer made a lot of big catches for us, and Mark Hamper did. Mike Martinez’s catch on his touchdown pass was probably one of the best catches I’ve ever seen — as big as he is, to go down and get it low.” 

With Idaho’s top two backs out with injuries, Art Williams, a redshirt freshman from Rocky Mountain High in Meridian, carried 15 times for 86 yards. But his fumble late in the game was returned 71 yards for a touchdown by Kai Rapolla with 1:02 left. The Mustangs went for two and failed, leaving the deficit at five. 

Moore recovered Cal Poly’s onside kick, and the Vandals kneeled out the clock. 

After Pope opened the scoring with a field goal, Cal Poly answered with two touchdown drives — one keyed by a 50-yard run by Michael Briscoe on a reverse to the Idaho 2. 

Idaho had the ball on the Cal Poly 1 late in the half, but Koch lost a yard on a keeper, and a penalty on fourth down pushed the Vandals back to the 7, and Eck settled for 3. 

“If we kept playing the way we were playing in the first half, we were losing the football game,” Eck said. “We responded well on both sides of the ball, and did some good things.” 

“When you see all that weird stuff, and all that odd stuff going on in the first half, you’ve just got to be able to respond,” James-Newby said.  

The halftime adjustments were more about attitude. 

“It was more of, we have to play with more focus, we have to have better execution, we have to play with more toughness, more competitiveness, more want-to,” Eck said. “We played the first half like we were trying to get the game over with. I got on the guys (at halftime) more than I usually do.” 

Cal Poly had emphasized the run in its first two Big Sky games, but the Vandals held the Mustangs to 77 yards on the ground. Kelly threw for 268 yards, mostly on short passes, with two touchdowns and one pick. 

“I thought they were going to come out running the ball more,” Eck said of Cal Poly. “They must have concluded that their best option was not to run the ball, it was to use a lot of quick passes, get the ball out of his hands quickly, so the rush couldn’t have as much of a factor. We just changed some coverages (in the second half) to get on their guys quicker.” 

Owen Forsman, a true freshman from Lakeland High, kicked off seven times for the Vandals, five four touchbacks. 

Zach Johnson, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Lake City, had four tackles.  

Idaho plays host to Eastern Washington next Saturday at 6 p.m.

Cal Poly    0    14    2    13    —     29 

Idaho    3    3    21    7    —    34 

First quarter 

Idaho — FG Pope 44, 1:38 

Second quarter 

Cal Poly — Woods 17 pass from Kelly (Serma kick), 9:49 

Cal Poly — Marshall 3 pass from Watts (Serna kick), 5:30 

Idaho — FG Pope 25 

Third quarter 

Idaho — Martinez 8 pass from Wagner (Koch run), 12:08 

Idaho — Koch 2 run (kick blocked; returned by Dukes of Cal Poly for 2 points), 7:05 

Idaho — Cortez-Menjivar 21 pass from Wagner (Pope kick), 3:13 

Fourth quarter 

Idaho — Dwyer 21 pass from Wagner (Pope kick), 6:11 

Cal Poly — Woods 4 pass from Kelly (Serna kick), 2:39 

Cal Poly — Rapolla 71 fumble return (run failed), 1:02 

INVIDIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Cal Poly, Briscoe 1-50, Hall 7-18, Watts 4-13, Ramos 7-12, Kelly 3-(minus 4). Idaho, Williams 15-86, Buchanan 7-24, Koch 5-16, Team 2-(minus 3), Wagner 6-(minus 17). 

PASSING — Cal Poly, Kelly 29-41-1-268, Watts 2-2-0-12. Idaho, Wagner 17-23-1-347. 

RECEIVING — Cal Poly, Woods 8-102, Booher 7-52, Garrison 5-58, Woods 3-20, Hall 3-19, Briscoe 3-12, Ramos 1-14, Marshall 1-3. Idaho, Dwyer 7-87, Hamper 4-103, Moore 2-36, Harste 1-65, Mini 1-27, Cortez Menjivar 1-21, Martinez 1-8. 

    Photo by IDAHO ATHLETICS Jordan Dwyer of Idaho catches a touchdown pass in the second half as Mason Rivera (32) of Cal Poly defends Saturday at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.